What Does Genesis 50:14 Mean in the King James?
And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verb for Joseph’s return, שׁוּב (shuv, turn back), can also mean restore, yet here the return points toward מִצְרַיִם (Mitzrayim, the two narrows).
THE MEANING
When a loss is laid to rest, life can still carry you back into a constricted place. The burial is complete, yet the return goes toward Egypt; closure and release are separate movements.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that finishing a burial means you have also left the constriction behind.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשָׁב
wayyāšob
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
Turn back, return; in some forms, restore or bring back.
“returned” in this verse is wayyāšob. The root marks a reversal of direction, not a promise that the destination is safe or spacious. The same seed names a return into Egypt here and restoration in Psalm 23:3; what changes is where the turning leads.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Turning back, return.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This branch makes the turning within “returned” audible: the word carries a change of direction, not merely arrival.
yeshovev: Restores, brings back.
יְשׁוֹבֵב
This form appears in Psalm 23:3, where the same root describes restoration; it shows that returning can restore, though this verse’s return leads into Egypt.
מִצְרַיְמָה
Mitzraymah
GROWS FROM
צַר
tsar
Narrow, constricting; Mitzrayim carries the dual ending -ayim, the two narrows.
“Egypt” in this verse is Mitzraymah. The name carries constriction as a place, and the directional ending in מִצְרַיְמָה marks movement toward it. The burial is complete, but the verse still names a return into narrowness.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: Narrow, tight, constricting.
צַר
This is the core sense carried in the place-name; it gives “Egypt” a dimension of constriction beneath the familiar name.
meitzar: A strait, a narrow place.
מֵצַר
This related form makes the narrowing spatial: the return in this verse is movement toward a place whose name carries the sense of narrowness.
THE PATTERN
The root שׁוּב (shuv, turn back or return) names movement across very different conditions without promising that every return leads to relief.
And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.THE THREAD
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.The Hebrew verb יְשׁוֹבֵב (yeshovev, restores) comes from שׁוּב (shuv, turn back or return), the same root translated “returned” here. Joseph’s return and the soul’s restoration share one motion, while their destinations differ.
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